Yes. For a test flight, usually the payload is weighted with concrete blocks, or something equally boring. Musk is a much better showman than that. He sent up his own cherry red Tesla Roadster, complete with a test dummy (called Starman) wearing the new SpaceX spacesuit. And the final orbit is supposed to be an elliptical solar one that reaches out to the vicinity of Mars orbit at aphelion.

Last edited by richard09 on Tue Feb 06, 2018 5:46 pm; edited 1 time in total

I don't know, but I expect it missed the barge. If it didn't, it would certainly leave a dent! Apparently they do have some film, but I haven't seen it posted anywhere yet.

No. The whole thing has five parts. There are three booster cores. On top of that is "stage two" - I suppose it's OK to still call it that, counting all three boosters together as stage one. And on top of that is the payload. Infographic.

I found an article that stated that 2 of the 3 re-entry rockets failed to fire, so the core impacted the water at 300 mph, missing the barge completely. It's probably a total loss. But the payload -- Elon's Roadster -- was delivered to LEO and they're still hoping to initiate a burn that'll take it on a slow trajectory to Mars.

I imagine the Roadster is a mockup, without batteries. Possibly just a fiberglass shell?

Pretty good job - except for the core mishap. Watching the two first-stage rockets landing was really cool.

If I may digress - the core's problems exhibit why computers should not be depended on with potentially destructive equipment. I would not have been enthusiastic about having Elon's rockets flying around my area. And if he ever gets his shit together on his plans which take place at Vandenberg, I will be disgruntled.

"They have answered our request", said the Apprentice."Good. Play it, apprentice", replied the Master."Uh, Master, it is not in the form we requested" said the Apprentice in a querulous voice."What form is it in?", demanded the Master."See for yourself, please", answered the Apprentice.Upon seeing the gift, the Master turned despondent."We ask for more Chuck Berry, and they send us this?!?"

Yes. I'm just not sure if he's planning to do all that from Vandenberg, or just run the big stuff from Florida. Still, even if he only runs Falcon 9s from Vandy, they land those boosters, and probably will want to do that on land, too. So yeah, wear your crash helmet.